What is Personal Stroke Index?
Official Stroke Index is a course-wide order used to allocate handicap strokes. Personal Stroke Index asks a different question: which holes actually cost you the most shots?
Official Stroke Index is only the starting point
Every tee set has an official Stroke Index order from 1 upward. It provides a consistent way to allocate strokes, and OKBogey can use that order when building Target Par for a course you have not played enough to personalise.
But SI 1 is not guaranteed to be your hardest hole. A long par 4 may suit your shape, while an officially easier hole with water on your usual miss side may repeatedly produce penalties.
Your scoring history can tell a different story
Personal difficulty appears in repeated results. The useful signal is not one memorable disaster or one lucky birdie, but the pattern across completed rounds on the same tee set.
If one hole consistently costs you more shots relative to par than another, that is evidence that the first hole deserves more allowance in your personal scoring plan.
Why sample size matters
A single round can be noisy. You may hit a cart path, hole a bunker shot or make a score that is completely unlike your normal result. Personal Stroke Index becomes more useful as repeated rounds reveal which holes are consistently expensive rather than merely memorable.
Personal Stroke Index does not change your target total
If your goal is 99, the plan still totals 99. Personal Stroke Index changes where the extra shots are allocated, not how many shots you are allowed overall.
For example, a course's official SI may give an extra shot to a long hole that you usually handle well. Your own history may show that a shorter hole with a forced carry costs you more. A personalised allocation can move that allowance to the place where it better reflects your game.
How this changes strategy
Knowing which holes are genuinely expensive helps you plan them differently. You might choose a wider tee-shot target, accept a three-shot route to the green, or deliberately avoid a short-sided approach because your history shows that the hole tends to become a blow-up.
It can also reveal the opposite: an officially difficult hole may be one where you routinely beat Target Par. That is useful because it shows where you are naturally earning shots back.
How OKBogey helps
OKBogey starts with the course's official Stroke Index for a consistent Target Par. After enough completed rounds on the same tee set, OKBogey+ can use your Personal Stroke Index so the allocation reflects the holes you actually find hardest.
The target total remains the same; the hole-by-hole plan becomes more personal.